Cover Picture: Reversible Collapse of Brushlike Macromolecules in Ethanol and Water Vapours as Revealed by Real-Time Scanning Force Microscopy (Chem. Eur. J. 18/2004)

✍ Scribed by Marat O. Gallyamov; Bernd Tartsch; Alexei R. Khokhlov; Sergei S. Sheiko; Hans G. Börner; Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Martin Möller

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 27 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0947-6539
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.200490061

✦ Synopsis

The cover picture shows the visualization of single poly(n‐butyl acrylate) brush molecules in real time by scanning force microscopy as they transform reversibly from an extended wormlike state to a compact globular state. The reversible transformation is effected by co‐adsorption of water or ethanol resulting in modification of the surface energy of the mica substrate. When the extended tightly adsorbed macromolecules are exposed to ethanol vapour, they swell and contract to form compact globules (top). Exchanging the ethanol vapour for a humid atmosphere causes the molecules to extend again to a wormlike two‐dimensional conformation (bottom). For more details see the article by M. Möller et al. on p. 4599ff.